Ball pick-up devices for mixing machines



July 17, 1962 s. slLvERMAN 3,044,780

BALL PICK-UP DEVICES FOR MIXING MACHINES Filed Feb. 9, 1960 2Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2

INVENTOR SOLLY S/LVE/PMAN- ATTORNEY July 17, 1962 s. slLvERMAN BALLPICK-UP DEVICES FOR MIXING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 9, 1960INVENTOR SOL/.Y S/LVERMAN er: /zfwffmy/ ATTORNEY United States PatentOffice 3,044,780 Patented July 17, 1962 3,044,780 BALL PICK-UP DEVICESFOR MIXHN MACIHNES Solly Silverman, 24 Baycrest Ave., Toronto, Ontario,Canada Filed Feb. 9, 1960, Ser. No. 7,692 Claims. (Cl. 273-144) Myinvention relates to ball mixing machines of `the kind commonly employedby concessionaires in playing the game of bingo. In such a mixingmachine, it is customary to mix the balls in a cage forming an enclosureand having a floor which is apertured to provide air passages. The ballshave assigned values and are con-A fined in the cage wherein they aretossed about by an air blast in a mixing operation and then picked up bya delivery device one at a time so that the operator may take ballssuccessively and call o the numbers whereupon they are placed in a trayand returned to the cage by a ball return device when a game has beenplayed.

The light-weight balls which are of the ping-pong type are tossed in amixing operation by an air blast which emanates from one of theapertures in the iioor and over this aperture is a tossing tube which isspaced above the oor to admit a ball in order that the air blast maycarry it up the tube andy project it therefrom. Balls are tossed by thetube in this way to bring about a promiscuous mixing of the same. Theballs may be guided toward the air blast orifice in the floor by1nclination of the Hoor surface.

Another aperture in the oor to which the balls are inclined to roll dueto inclination of the oor surface serves as a part of the ball pick-updevice and below the floor a compartment houses an electric fan forproducing the air blast.

According to my invention there is provided a delivery device comprisinga generally upright passage for balls having a lower rball-receiving endand an upper end. This passage is in the form of a tube which is spacedabove the door a distance suiiicient to allow a ball to enter thepassage under the influence of the air blast and at the upper end of thetube there is a tubular delivery chute supported to slope downwardlywith its outer end disposed exteriorly of the cage and provided with aball-catching device. The juncture of the upper end of the pick-up tubein the delivery chute is supplied with one or more openings and adellector, preferably in the form of a plate for guidably confining theballs and allowing the air blast to expend itself so that by reduc* tionof pressure at this juncture the balls lost momentum yand are caused totravel down the delivery chute mainly by the force of gravity so thatthey may be stopped by the ball-catching device for removal by theoperator in the play of the game. My invention produces a steady ilow ofballs in a pick-up operation so that the balls may be taken from themachine by the operator without any delay during its operation. This isa highly important feature and my invention has proven to be a decidedimprovement in the art. It is economical to manufacture and facilitatesthe playing of the game in a smooth, uninterrupted manner.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FlG. 1 is a general perspective View of a ball mixing machine with partsbroken away and incorporating my invention; n

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional detail of the ball-return tray by whichdelivered balls are allowed to return to the cage;

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation of the ball delivery mechanism.

Now, referring more particularly to the drawings, my invention is usediny association with a ball mixing machine comprising a cage generallydenoted at 4 upstanding from a base 5 which provides a chamber 6containing fan blades 7 driven by au electric motor 8 for placing theair in the chamber under pressure to produce air blasts through openings9 and l0 provided in the floor 11 of the cage, as is well known in theart. The fan motor is controlled by a switch 12 and has an electriccable 13 for connection with a source of electrical energy, such as anoutlet of a service line. These details are conventional in characterand their precise arrangement is given only by way of example as they donot, per se, form a part of the invention.

The cage is made up of bars as usual and has side walls and a top wall,The -top wall has the usual pliant impact section 14 placed over theopening 9 belonging to the ball tossing and mixing tube 15. Tube 15 isgenerally vertically supported in register with the air blast opening 9and is shown as supported by legs 16 by way of example. The opening 9 ismade larger than a ball and therefore, it is supplied with crossbars 17so that the balls may not pass therethrough. Floor 11 may be made ofrigid material covered with a felt or other textile product, or it maybe composed of some other material which is of a non-rigid charactersuitable for the purpose of reducing or obviating bounce of balls whichare tossed by the mixing tube 15. Usually the floor slopes or isinclined toward the air blast opening 9 so that the balls may tend toroll toward it in the operation of the machine.

The ball-return device is located at one side of the cage and isgenerally denoted at 18. It comprises a shallow tray i9 having retainingwalls 20 at three of its sides and the fourth side is open to the cageas at 20. The tray is inclined toward the opening 20 so that ballsreceived therein will gravitate into the cage and may not return. Thetop of the tray is closed off by a perforated indexing plate 21 suppliedwith openings denoted at 22 each of a diameter greater than the balls sothat the balls may pass therethrough. Below the openings there is anarrangement of blocking bars 23 carried by a control rod 24 operated bya handle 25 which enables the operator to shift the bars to one sideofthe openings so that any balls in openings may drop through into thetray. This is an arrangement tha-t will be well understood in the art,and it will be understood that in the play of the game when a ball ispicked up by the operator, the number is called and then the ball isplaced in an opening when the bars are in their blocking positions. Atthe end of the game, the handle allows the balls to be dropped inare-setting operation.

Now, having described the construction and arrangement of a ball mixingmachine in association with which my invention is used, the inventionitself will now be recounted in detail. This del-ivery device comprisesa generally upright passage for balls indicated at 26; the passage has alower ball-receiving end 27 and an upper egress end 28. Passage 26 isprovided by the bore of an imperforated pick-up tube 29, the lower endof which is spaced above the floor 1l a distance suflicient to allow aball to enter the passage 26 through the lower end 27. The pick-up tubeis disposed with its lower end in register with the air blast aperture10 in the floor 11, which floor has its surrounding lioor surfaceinclined toward this air blast opening so that balls rolling toward thesame will be subject to the air blast and will thereby be tossedupwardly and a ball entering the tube 29 will be entrained in the airblast and carried upwardly therethrough. FIG. 3 shows a ball indicatedat 30 in the act of passing upwardly through tube 29 which tube has thepassage 26 3 made a somewhat larger diameter than the ball to allow forfree travel of balls.

At the upper end of tube 29 there is disposed a tubular delivery chute31 which is disposed to provide a passage which -is downwardly inclinedfrom the upper end 28 of passage 26 for movement of balls to aball-catching device 32.

The pick-up element 29 is connected at its upper end to the upper end ofthe delivery chute 31 by a detlecting juncture including an air escapeopening for reducing buoyant pressure on a ball in the upright passage26 so that the ball may roll down said chute passage gently and beretained by the catching device 32. The deecting juncture provides forabrupt dissipation of air pressure at the upper end of tube 29 whichcauses the levitated ball to lose its momentum in passing into chute 31.It therefore travels down the chute without undue momentum. The deectingjuncture comprises an apertured elbow generally denoted at 33 which isdesirably made up of connecting rods 34 curving from the upper end ofsaid pickup tube 29 to the upper end of the delivery chute 31. Rods 34may be suitably secured to the adjacent ends of tube 29 and chute 31 andthus may serve as a support for tube 29 in cooperation with a weldedconnection 36. The rods 34 are connected to a curved deector 37 whichdirects levitated balls to the delivery chute 31 and providesintervening openings 35 for escape of air. Moditication may be resortedto with regard to the construction and arrangement of the deflectingjuncture in accordance with the spirit of the invention. The deector 37and the openings 35 may be termed an apertured deector.

The delivery chute 31 is depicted as secured to a wall of the cage as at38 and the catching device 32 at the lower end of the chute is in theform of a ring-like member of a split type having its ends secured tothe chute, the ring being disposed at a suitable angle near the cutawayportion of the chute indicated at 39 which allows a ball to be readilytaken from the delivery chute by the operator.

From the preceding description, it will be manifest that my inventionprovides an improved delivery device for balls and it has beendemonstrated that this device is reliable and eicient. Having describedmy invention, it will be understood that such changes and modificationsmay be resorted to as fairly come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What I claim is:

l. In a ball mixing machine having a cage provided with an aperturedfloor through which a blast of air enters for tossing balls, a deliverydevice comprising a pick-up element providing an imperforated generallyupright passage for balls, said pick-up element having a lower end andan upper end, said pick-up element spaced above said oor with its lowerend at a height suiicient to freely admit a ball and disposed inalignment with the aperture in said oor, a delivery chute of eiectivelytubular cross section, sloped downwardly from the upper end of saidpick-up element and having a junction with said upper end of saidpick-up element in which there is an opening to allow escape of air forpressure reduction, and a ball-catching device at the lower end of saiddelivery chute, eiectively in the longitudinal axis of said deliverytube, the lower end of said delivery tube being disposed exteriorly ofsaid cage.

2. In a ball mixing machine having a cage provided with an aperturedfloor through which a blast of air enters for tossing balls, a deliverydevice comprising a pick-up element providing an imperforated generallyupright passage for balls, said pick-up element having a lower end andan upper end, said pick-up element spaced above said oor with its lowerend at a height sucient to freely admit a ball and disposed in alignmentwith the aperture in said Hoor, a delivery chute supported to slopedownwardly from said upper end of said pick-up element and having alower end disposed exteriorly of said cage, a ball catching device atsaid lower end of said delivery chute, and an apertured deectorproviding a connection between the upper ends of said pick-up elementand said delivery chute and operative to allow escape of air forpressure reduction on a ball arriving at said upper end of said deliverychute after having been blown up said delivery chute.

3. In a ball mixing machine having a cage provided with an aperturedfloor through which a blast of air enters the cage for tossing balls, adelivery device comprising an imperforated pick-up tube supported insaid cage to extend in a general upward direction with its lower endsubstantially in register with the air-blast aperture in said oor andspaced above said oor a distance Suthcient to allow a ball to enter saidpick-up tube under the intluence of said air blast, a tubular deliverychute supported to slope downwardly from the upper end of said pick-uptube and having a lower end disposed exteriorly of said cage, aball-catching device at said lower end of said delivery chute, and anopen deector interposed between the upper ends of said pick-up tube andsaid delivery chute whereby a stream of air under pressure passingthrough said pick-.up tube may spend itself on reaching the upper end ofsaid pick-up tube so that a ball entrained in the air stream will besubjected to a reduction in air pressure on being elevated to the upperend of said pick-up tube.

4. In a ball mixing machine having a cage provided with an aperturediloor through which a blast of air enters the cage for tossing balls, adelivery device comprising an imperforated pick-up tube supported insaid cage to extend in a general upward direction with its lower endsubstantially in register with the air blast aperture in said floor andspaced above said floor a distance suihcient to allow a ball to entersaid pick-up tube under the inlluence of said air blast, a tubulardelivery chute supported to slope downwardly from the upper end of saidpick-up tube and having a lower end disposed exteriorly of said cage, aball-catching device at said lower end of said delivery chute, and anelbow-forming deflector providing a connection between the upper ends ofsaid pick-up tube and said delivery chute, said deflector having thereinat least one opening through which air may escape to reduce pressure ona levitated ball on its arriving at the upper end of said pick-up tube.

5. In a ball mixing machine having a cage provided with an aperturedfloor through which a blast of air enters the cage for tossing balls, adelivery device comprising an imperforated pick-up tube supported insaid cage to extend in a general upward direction with its lower endsubstantially in register with the air-blast aper ture in said floor andspaced above said tloor a distance sutiicient to allow a ball to entersaid pick-up tube under the iniluence of said air blast, a tubulardelivery chute supported to slope downwardly from the upper end of saidpick-up tube and having a lower end disposed exteriorly of said cage, aball-catching device at said lower end of said delivery chute, and anelbow-forming deector made up of rods curving from the upper end of saidpick-up tube to the upper end of said delivery chute, said rods securedtogether in spaced relation and providing intervening openings forescape of air to reduce pressure on a levitated ball on its arriving atthe upper end of said pick-up tube.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,127,520 Rosen Feb. 9, 1915 2,765,171 Cook Oct. 2, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS552,168 Canada Jan. 28, 1958

